1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a traveling apparatus suitable for use in a coaxial two-wheeled vehicle having two wheels disposed on an identical axial center line, for example.
2. Description of Related Art
In a conventional coaxial two-wheeled vehicle, attitude control is performed on the vehicle mainly in a pitch axis direction by detecting the tilt of the vehicle using a plurality of gyros or the like (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,971,091, for example).
An apparatus that performs travel control in a coaxial two-wheeled vehicle in accordance with load movement generated by a driver is also known (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-6435, for example).
An apparatus in which a coaxial two-wheeled vehicle is provided with a seat has also been proposed (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-74814, for example).
In a traveling apparatus for a coaxial two-wheeled vehicle such as those described above, travel control is performed in accordance with load movement generated by the driver, for example. In this case, brake control is performed when a rearward load is applied, while accelerator control is performed when a forward load is applied. In contrast, it has been proposed that manual brake and accelerator operations be made possible in a traveling apparatus for a coaxial two-wheeled vehicle such as those described above. Specifically, by providing an operating lever that enables the driver to perform brake operations and accelerator operations manually, these operations can be performed more directly.
However, when the brake or the accelerator is operated manually in a traveling apparatus for a coaxial two-wheeled vehicle such as those described above, load movement is generated by the driver due to inertia when an operation is performed during travel, for example. In this case, the load moves forward when the brake is applied, and the load moves backward when the accelerator is applied. In other words, load movement generated by inertia in this manner is opposite to load movement generated when travel control is performed as described above. Therefore, two conflicting types of control are performed, and as a result, it may be impossible to realize smooth control, particularly in relation to manual operations.
Hence, to make manual brake and accelerator operations possible in a conventional traveling apparatus for a coaxial two-wheeled vehicle, complicated measures such as blocking travel control corresponding to driver load movement when a manual operation of the brake or accelerator is performed, for example, are required. To realize such measures, a complicated control mechanism must be provided, and therefore manual brake and accelerator operations have not been realized in a conventional traveling apparatus for a coaxial two-wheeled vehicle.
This application has been designed in consideration of such points, and a problem to be solved thereby is that in a conventional apparatus, a manual operation of a brake or an accelerator conflicts with primary travel control through driver load movement, and therefore manual operations cannot be performed in combination with brake and accelerator control.